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Paper Please: California voters approve plastic bag ban

FILE - In this Sept. 20, 2016, file photo, women walk with plastic bags through Chinatown in San Francisco. California voters have narrowly approved a statewide ban on single-use plastic carryout bags. Proposition 67 was placed on the November 8, ...
2016, ballot by plastic bag industry supporters to try to overturn a ban approved by the state legislature two years ago. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)
(The Associated Press)

SAN FRANCISCO – California's ban on single-use plastic carryout bags will stay in effect after voters narrowly approved the policy.

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Proposition 67 was placed on Tuesday's ballot by plastic bag industry supporters to try to overturn a ban approved by the state legislature two years ago. The item was approved with a 52 percent majority.

A coalition of environmental groups, grocers and others led the campaign to uphold the statewide ban.

Voters rejected a second measure, Proposition 65, which proposed to create an environmental fund with proceeds from a 10-cent charge for alternative bags.

Environmental groups and other critics said it was put on the ballot to confuse voters.